we need EVERY child raised by the state run school so they can all be EXACTLY the same. Viewing MTV should be required, otherwise how will children learn how to behave? It should be a crime like it is in Germany to not send your child to the govt school. We can give them brown shirts too.

I saw a group of 13 and 14 year old boys and girls meet for the first time, about 5 of them, but I couldn't really count as they keep wriggling, and none knew what to do to relate to each other!----

Mark, considering the ages and the gender difference I think you would have seen the same behavior had it happened with land kids who were strangers. When hormones raise their ugly heads all bets are off.

Wow.. just read this thread and I have to say that I very much disagree with Mark's comments. We lived on our boat for two years, a year and a half of which was cruising from Lake Champlain to the southern Bahamas and back. We did this with our two kids who were 11 (son) and 7 (daughter) when we started.

Their social skills became so radically BETTER during and after our cruise than they were before.

Cruising kids are forced to socialize with EVERYONE - whether they are 5 years old or 80 years old. I remember a get together in Georgetown (Exumas) with all of the kids from the anchorages. There were probably 30 there, varying in age from 5 years old to 17 or 18. They were ALL communicating with and engaging each other the entire time. There was no awkwardness. There was no twiddling of thumbs. These kids realized that if they wanted to do anything other than hang out with their parents, they had to make friends with everyone - regardless of whether they were the same age or not. It was amazing watching all of these kids interacting with each other.

When we reached ports, our kids learned to jump off our boat and seek out other kid boats. They met kids all over the world that they still keep in touch with - several years later. By the end of our cruise, we were hanging out with 6 or 7 other kid boats and went from place to place with them. The daily routine would be... wake up, spend a few hours doing schoolwork, and then the VHFs would start lighting up with the calls from boat to boat to figure out who was going swimming, snorkeling, hanging out with, etc. with who.

Today, a few years later, my kids still comment that they found their self confidence because of the cruise. They don't care what others think, and they have no problem meeting people. They both are adamant in the fact that being cruising kids, going through life and death experiences, being forced to meet and befreind people quickly, etc. is what has made them so great today.

By the way - my son becomes a senior in high school next year and my daughter will be going into 8th grade. They are still ABSOLUTELY inseparable and love to do everything together. They rarely argue, and still give each other hugs and a peck every night before they go to bed. My son will bring our daughter to hang out with his friends and is not the least bit embarrassed by it.

So... point being... our kids are amazingly well adjusted and we owe it to the cruise.

Oh... and with regards to school... our first year we used a pre-made home schooling course. We were able to get through the stuff our kids knew quickly, and spend time on the things they didn't. Because we were returning to New York for our son's high school, we had him go home for a few days to take some placement tests. For the home schooled material, he scored at the highest levels within his classes.

s/v "Pelican" Passport 40 #076- Finished Cruising - for the moment - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts."Don't dream your life, live your dream" - Bob Bitchin'
"I'll see it when I believe it" - Me

Wow.. just read this thread and I have to say that I very much disagree with Mark's comments. We lived on our boat for two years, a year and a half of which was cruising from Lake Champlain to the southern Bahamas and back. We did this with our two kids who were 11 (son) and 7 (daughter) when we started.

Their social skills became so radically BETTER during and after our cruise than they were before.

Cruising kids are forced to socialize with EVERYONE - whether they are 5 years old or 80 years old. I remember a get together in Georgetown (Exumas) with all of the kids from the anchorages. There were probably 30 there, varying in age from 5 years old to 17 or 18. They were ALL communicating with and engaging each other the entire time. There was no awkwardness. There was no twiddling of thumbs. These kids realized that if they wanted to do anything other than hang out with their parents, they had to make friends with everyone - regardless of whether they were the same age or not. It was amazing watching all of these kids interacting with each other.

When we reached ports, our kids learned to jump off our boat and seek out other kid boats. They met kids all over the world that they still keep in touch with - several years later. By the end of our cruise, we were hanging out with 6 or 7 other kid boats and went from place to place with them. The daily routine would be... wake up, spend a few hours doing schoolwork, and then the VHFs would start lighting up with the calls from boat to boat to figure out who was going swimming, snorkeling, hanging out with, etc. with who.

Today, a few years later, my kids still comment that they found their self confidence because of the cruise. They don't care what others think, and they have no problem meeting people. They both are adamant in the fact that being cruising kids, going through life and death experiences, being forced to meet and befreind people quickly, etc. is what has made them so great today.

By the way - my son becomes a senior in high school next year and my daughter will be going into 8th grade. They are still ABSOLUTELY inseparable and love to do everything together. They rarely argue, and still give each other hugs and a peck every night before they go to bed. My son will bring our daughter to hang out with his friends and is not the least bit embarrassed by it.

So... point being... our kids are amazingly well adjusted and we owe it to the cruise.

Oh... and with regards to school... our first year we used a pre-made home schooling course. We were able to get through the stuff our kids knew quickly, and spend time on the things they didn't. Because we were returning to New York for our son's high school, we had him go home for a few days to take some placement tests. For the home schooled material, he scored at the highest levels within his classes.

we need EVERY child raised by the state run school so they can all be EXACTLY the same. Viewing MTV should be required, otherwise how will children learn how to behave? It should be a crime like it is in Germany to not send your child to the govt school. We can give them brown shirts too.

And with those distinctive uniforms, They let them be awarded little silver handled daggers to prove they are well trained, indoctrinated and trusted tools of the state. All of this so they can all learn to be good slaves of the Government and to honor the country of their birth!

IMO, better they should be happy, free, loved, well educated and have a sharp sailor's knife to cut a line when needed or to free themselves from a tangle in a upset.

Let them learn to honor their father and mother and to be able to wisely plot and capably steer their own course.

This world has had quite enough indoctrinated youths and child soldiers to feed into the meat grinders of war. Any government that trains their children to be subjects and soldiers before they are trained to be free, discerning, productive citizens is seriously suspect to my way of thinking.

Let your children know that there are things worth fighting for and that freedom to be able to raise your children your way is one of them!

The current end to the story is.. my wife so enjoyed home schooling our kids that when we got back she went for her masters in education, and is now a fully employed full time teacher at a residential school for girls with problems... and she's loving it.

s/v "Pelican" Passport 40 #076- Finished Cruising - for the moment - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts."Don't dream your life, live your dream" - Bob Bitchin'
"I'll see it when I believe it" - Me

The current end to the story is.. my wife so enjoyed home schooling our kids that when we got back she went for her masters in education, and is now a fully employed full time teacher at a residential school for girls with problems... and she's loving it.

Love it.

Cruising has a lot of aspects to it. All of them will change you. For good or bad? Well, it still comes down to mom and dad. Thats is why you do well, no matter boat, rv, house, apartment, etc.

Sure wish we could have caught up with you. Would have been fun. Sitting in boot key now and have met some great kid boats. But it is time to move on again. Think we will head up the east coast. Never done that. Would love your input from a dads perspective.

s/v "Pelican" Passport 40 #076- Finished Cruising - for the moment - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts."Don't dream your life, live your dream" - Bob Bitchin'
"I'll see it when I believe it" - Me

Best places on the east coast for kids (that we stopped at)? Lots of activities for both adults and kids that aren't tough to get to when anchored off in the following locales:

Charleston, Beaufort (NC), Norfolk, Annapolis, New York City, Mystic (Long Island Sound), Cape Cod and then several points in Maine if you want to go that far north.

I also hear nice things about Savannah but we didn't make it there.

Let me know if you have questions about any of these spots.

P.S. If you make it as far as NY in August, and are still on the Hudson side of NY, we'll meet up with you for a few days.

We may do that. I will drop you a pm later today or tomorrow. We head to Bimini (hopefully) this weekend and may hang in the Abacos a few weeks. After that, well, we are open for suggestions. Going to post this as a thread on sn too.

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